It's
far too long since I wrote a Thankful Thursday post. Thank you for
reminding me Fi (of Four Paws and Whiskers) in our recent chat.
Anyway
I woke up this morning (in itself always something for which to be
thankful) and really was thankful. Thankful for the best night's
dreamless sleep I can remember having for many, many years. The recipe?
Get up at 0430 after a very disturbed few hours. Drive 250 miles feeling
amazingly un-tired having met up in Dunblane for afternoon tea with the
pal with whom I'm staying here in Bishopbriggs so that we could enjoy
the last part of the journey catching up. Have dinner and a few glasses
of wine and a small cognac as a nightcap. Watch a programme about the
architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Fall into bed around 10.30.
I woke once at 0305 for a comfort break but was asleep again the second my head hit the pillow.
My next wakening was at 0630. I dozed 'till 0700 and got up and made a cup of hot water and lemon.
I had not even been aware of dreaming (which is, perhaps, the most unusual fact about the night)!
So
the first thing I thought about as I lay in that blissful half hour was
just how blessed I was for most of my first half century in needing
little sleep: probably because once I put my head on the pillow I slept
the sleep of the dead.
It's
nearly 19 years since my first cancer operation left me with a need to
get up frequently during the night and 8 since my radio therapy
exacerbated the problem. Don't get me wrong I'm not complaining. I'm
only too glad to be alive to have the inconvenience. It does make one
appreciate a relatively undisturbed night even more though.
So this Thursday morning I am grateful, very very grateful.
I have always been a very good sleeper but these days I have a couple of comfort stops and often some early hours wakefulness as well so I understand your gratitude for a good night! May you have many more
ReplyDeleteThank you Kylie. And may you too!
DeleteLovely to hear, and thanks for the chat :). Enjoyed the catch up
ReplyDeleteThank you Fi! So did I.
DeleteI was going to jest about your "comfort break" but the last paragraphs of this post indicated that that would be most improper. I have a friend of eighty who gets up five or six times a night to visit the toilet. It's no joke for him. Years of broken sleep when I often sleep for a solid seven hours. He's very jealous.
ReplyDeleteYP I'd rather laugh about my problem than cry about it and, as I said, I'm alive to have the problem. Fortunately I have an en suite so I can fall out of bed, take a few steps and fall back in again with hardly a thought. However it does break the sleep pattern and has another consequence (for another post).
DeleteAs someone who is fortunate enough to have spent time with you, and to count you as a friend, let me add my hearty gratitude to yours!
ReplyDeleteThank you Mrs S. I'm very glad you count me as a friend. That makes me happy.
DeleteGlad to know you slept well
ReplyDeleteIf I sleep over 5 hours or without a wisp of a dream, then I feel like I've been kidnapped by aliens.
Oh heavens Maywyn I would love to be back in the days when I slept solidly without being aware of my dreams. The latter will be the subject of (yet another) post soon.
DeleteI like dreams.
ReplyDeleteHaving been forcibly plumbed up twice I have to get up at least once a night. I use a plastic milk carton a modern substitute for the chamber pot. I drink the semi-skimmed milk first but I don't think the type of milk affects the efficacy of the piss pot. Mine has a green lid if you are pernikty wash it first as bits of milk left form clumps when mixed with urea. It's how they make cheese.
I remember years ago buying pink toilet paper, twenty four rolls, quilted, a particularly violent pink I'll admit but perfectly soft for ladies bums ....It was on offer and dirt cheap in Tesco. My wife went ballistic as it didn't match the bathroom, an eyesore in avocado. I tried it quick sticks and was able to assure her that my bum couldn't tell the difference and I thought it most effective.
Adrian you can always be guaranteed for to provide the most irrelevant, amusing, perplexing, irreverent, and just plain daft comment. I miss you when you're not in Blogland. As for dreams: I dislike them.
DeleteLike Adrian, I like dreams - most of mine, anyway - but I know you have "mares", as you have called them in a previous post (please correct me if I got that wrong).
ReplyDeleteSleep is one of those things most people only truly appreciate when it is missing from their lives. I usually have no trouble sleeping, but I wake easily by noise - even if it is just the clicking of my downstairs neighbour's lighter when he has a fag on his patio in the early morning hours.
And because I drink a lot of water all the time, I am used to getting up at least once during the night.
I am glad you had such a good night!
Meike, you are, of course, correct about my 'mares'. I wrote a blog about them - again - earlier this evening. You are correct about not missing sleep until you don't have it. For 50 years I slept soundly. However as a small child I suffered from insomnia because I didn't need the amount of sleep I was expected to have. Now a night like last night is pure bliss.
DeleteI'm totally aware of how lucky I am to sleep as I do. I keep expecting advancing years to change it but so far my sleep ability has not reduced. Comfort stops during the night are just a half awake stumble in the dark before deep sleep returns. I can't imagine what nights must be like for you. I know you wake brighter and more cheerfully than I do. How you do that, I don't know. I'm happy you had a really good night with the 'mares' banished. May there be many more of them in your future.
ReplyDeletePauline although I do get up a lot in the night the actual waking bit is usually very short: it's the nightmares and dreams that precede the brief trip to the bathroom that are the debilitating part for me.
DeleteHey, I'd be very grateful for a good night's rest. I do not sleep well and don't nap in the day to make up for lost sleep. I wish you continued good health.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds, Red, as if I am much more fortunate than you are.
DeleteI always sleep well...I've never considered dreaming to be bad for me. I enjoy my dreams...it's kind of like sorting out a filing system in one's mind.
ReplyDeleteLee you are very fortunate. I used to sleep well and can cope with having to get up during the night but I find the dreams very wearing.
Delete